While Yan Zheng was washing up, Jiang Xi ladled out the mushroom porridge and put it on the table to cool for a while.
He took a towel, wiped his hands, walked up to Yan Jing'an, patted him twice, and told him to get up and eat.
Yan Jing'an coughed twice, but did not respond and continued to lie on his side.
Yan Zheng called out twice more when there was no response.
There was still no movement.
Jiang Xi, who was serving rabbit meat nearby, also noticed something was wrong.
Yan Zheng quickly pulled Yan Jing'an back, and was shocked to see that his face was flushed, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he was in a state of hysteria.
Yan Zheng felt uneasy and reached out to touch his forehead.
It was very hot. I checked my forehead again, and judging from the temperature, Yan Jing'an's body temperature was at least 38 degrees Celsius or higher.
Jiang Xi looked puzzled: "What's going on?"
Yan Zheng said in a deep voice, "He has a fever."
"Yan Jing'an, Yan Jing'an, wake up, can you hear me?"
In his dream, Yan Jing'an always felt like he was floating in a boat, and he kept feeling someone calling his name. As he listened, he gradually opened his eyes.
Seeing Yan Zheng and Jiang Xi, he felt a little cold, pulled the blanket tighter, and murmured, "I'm so sleepy, I'll sleep a little longer."
It's gotten this bad; we have to take some measures, otherwise if it keeps burning, people will go crazy.
He asked Jiang Xi, "Where do we keep all our Western medicines?"
Jiang Xi then realized: "Yes, I put it away, I'll go get it."
While Jiang Xi was getting the medicine, Yan Zheng wet the towel again and used it to wipe the sweat from Yan Jing'an's face. Finally, he washed it clean, folded it, and placed it on Yan Jing'an's forehead.
Jiang Xi brought over a small basket: "There's also a strip of fever reducers and a few anti-inflammatory pills."
I'm coughing so badly, I don't know if it's a cold or pneumonia.
Yan Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Let's give him fever-reducing medicine first."
Jiang Xi took out fever-reducing medicine and handed it to him, then took a glass of water from the table.
Yan Zheng sat on the edge of the bed, supporting Yan Jing'an with his hands, and helped him sit up so that he could lean on his shoulder.
Yan Jing'an vaguely sensed something, but his mind was like boiling water, his brain felt swollen from the steam, and his eyes were incredibly sore.
Upon hearing Yan Zheng tell him to open his mouth to take the medicine, he didn't think much of it and subconsciously swallowed the medicine from his lips.
After feeding Yan Zheng, he helped him lie down and covered him with the blanket again.
Jiang Xi sighed: "He usually seems to be in good spirits, how come he got sick so suddenly?"
I thought he was much better because his cough hadn't been as bad as it had been in the past few days, but then he suddenly developed a high fever.
Yan Zheng looked at Yan Jing'an, whose face was flushed red, and paused before saying, "Respiratory diseases are the most troublesome. If you're not careful, you'll either catch a cold or get a fever."
Yan Zhao was like that when he was a child. He remembers that his mother would take him to the hospital three or four times a year, either because of a cough or pneumonia.
After observing Yan Jing'an's condition for a while and finding nothing unusual, Yan Zheng said, "Let's eat. Let's leave him alone for now and see if he has an appetite after his fever breaks."
Jiang Xi nodded and sat down at the dining table. Thinking of the morning, she said, "By the way, it snowed heavily outside today."
These stone houses all have closed windows and doors, and the only source of light is the kerosene lamp on the wall, so people inside cannot see the outside scene unless they open the door.
Upon hearing this news, Yan Zheng frowned. It wasn't exactly good news; in fact, it was quite bad news.
His original plan was to go hunting for two days after all his things were moved over, and stock up on some fresh meat.
He didn't expect the temperature to drop so quickly, and his plans were completely disrupted.
After breakfast, Yan Zheng trudged through knee-deep snow to the blacksmith's shop and brought back two shovels.
Since we can't go out, we can only tidy up the yard first; we can't keep everyone cooped up in this house for the next few days.
Although the shovel was rusty, it was still usable, except that the wooden handle was worn out. Yan Zheng replaced the handle himself with a piece of wood he found at random. It wasn't sanded and felt a bit rough, but it was still usable.
Then, he went back to the yard, took a shovel, and used it to clear a path about a meter wide from the yard gate to the main house entrance.
Jiang Xi also helped clear the snow from the yard, and they piled all the snow under the jujube tree.
The snow is compacted by pushing it up like this. Then, when you shake the jujubes off the tree, all the jujubes will fall onto the solid snowdrift, making it much easier for Jiang Xi to pick them up.
The two of them worked together, and before they knew it, an hour or two had passed.
Yan Zheng took off his gloves, went back into the house, and touched Yan Jing'an's forehead.
There was no response; this fever reducer wasn't as effective as the last one. It's been an hour or two, and he hasn't even broken a sweat; his temperature remains high.
Jiang Xi said, "If you don't use physical methods, you can wipe his body to cool him down."
Yan Zheng felt slightly uncomfortable: "It's a bit awkward with two grown men."
But he couldn't let him continue burning like that, so in the end, for the sake of revolutionary friendship, he compromised.
Jiang Xi brought him a plate of warm water and placed it beside him. Then she went to the earthen stove and started knitting sweaters with her back to them.
Yan Zheng took off Yan Jing'an's sweater and rolled up his pants to his knees. Then he gently wiped his whole body with a towel dampened with warm water.
After wiping it three or four times, Yan Jing'an's injuries finally subsided a bit by noon.
He woke up with sore eyes and saw Yan Zheng standing by his bedside, holding a towel in his hand, his upper body completely naked.
Startled, he forgot all about his physical discomfort and hurriedly searched for a blanket, coughing several times in his excitement.
Yan Zheng said disdainfully, "Look at you, so pathetic. I was just trying to cool you down physically, and you got all scared."
Yan Jing'an, his face flushed, said, "Why didn't you wake me up first? I could have done it myself."
It's so awkward for two grown men to be like this.
"I'd like you to come by yourself, but I can't wake you up."
Then Yan Zheng asked, "How are you feeling right now? Are you short of breath? Is it a respiratory problem or just a simple cold?"
Yan Jing'an coughed twice, a little out of breath. He paused for a moment and said, "It's still a lung problem. I have some anti-inflammatory medicine for pneumonia in my backpack. Could you please get it for me?"
After saying that, he put on a sweater.
Yan Zheng then remembered that Yan Jing'an had taken out a syringe from his backpack when he first arrived. Neither he nor Jiang Xi had touched the backpack; it had always been kept by Yan Jing'an himself. If Yan Jing'an hadn't reminded him, Yan Zheng would have almost forgotten about it.
Take his backpack off the nail on the wall and hand it to him.
Yan Jing'an took out a white medicine from his backpack. He then poured out two pills and swallowed them without water.
This action is already very skillful.
Hearing him get dressed, Jiang Xi turned and asked, "Are you hungry? Would you like some of the porridge I made this morning?"
Yan Jing'an was covered in sweat and somewhat dehydrated. He nodded, and Jiang Xi put the sweater in her hand into the basket, took the kettle off the stove, and replaced it with the earthenware pot she had used to cook porridge that morning.
I also prepared a small dish of air-dried rabbit meat, without adding Sichuan peppercorns or black pepper, just a sprinkle of hawthorn vinegar to enhance the flavor.
Sick people often have little appetite, but that's precisely why we need to encourage them to eat more to boost their immunity.
After Yan Jing'an finished eating and went to bed, Yan Zheng and Jiang Xi each drank a bowl of porridge as lunch.
Actually, since I came here, apart from the initial period when I wasn't quite used to it, I've had to eat three meals a day.
Gradually, they stopped paying attention to their three meals a day. When they had to go out, they would pack some dry food in their backpacks and eat whatever they could find when they were hungry.
Instead, you should eat more for breakfast and dinner to replenish your energy.
With the heavy snow these past few days, Jiang Xi thought she should prepare some food for lunch so she could stay warm.
In the afternoon, Yan Zheng placed the cart by the wall and used a shovel to push the snow off the roof bit by bit.
This is done to prevent the heavy snow from collapsing the roof. They finally have a place to stay, and if it collapses, that would be a real problem.
Shovel the snow off the roof and clear the snow from the yard. Jiang Xi dug out dozens of pottery pieces from the thick snow and arranged them neatly. Winter nights come early, and this busy work took until evening.
After it got completely dark, Yan Jing'an slowly began to wake up. Once his fever subsided, he was no longer sleepy.
Inside the room, Yan Zheng was polishing an iron pot and shovel. These ironware items were covered in rust and needed to be polished before they could be used.
Jiang Xi looked at the fire; something was bubbling on the pot, and the rich aroma of meat filled the entire room.
Yan Jing'an suddenly felt a sour, swollen feeling in his heart, an indescribable sensation. This feeling had been absent for a long time since the snow disaster, when Jiang Xi and many friends were lost.
He put on his clothes and sat up: "What's for dinner? It smells delicious."
Hearing his voice, Jiang Xi turned around and said with surprise, "You're awake. Are you still feeling unwell?"
Yan Jing'an shook his head, his voice hoarse from the fever: "The fever has subsided."
Jiang Xi handed him the tangerine peel water she had prepared that morning: "There's a duck simmering in the pot. Get up, wash up, and we'll eat in a bit."
Yan Zheng also put down his work and said, "Your illness came on suddenly. It's gotten colder these past few days, so you'd better not go out."
Upon hearing this, Yan Jing'an coughed twice and said, "It will be fine after winter. I don't think I've told you yet, but winter here is very short. It usually starts to warm up at the end of December."
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